Ocean Links
by Midori Kou
Summary: Takeru Takaishi lived a pretty normal life until one day unexplainable incidents occur, troubling the Bearer of Hope. Are they related to the Darkness? Who will save him? NEW CH. 2 UP!
1. Wave 01: Realize

**[Ocean Links]**  
_Wave 01 – Realize_  
_revised __July 22, 2003_

_What is this place…?_  
_It's so cold and dark._   
_I can't see anything._   
_But I can hear something…_  
_It sounds like water._   
_This atmosphere is so familiar._   
_But why…?_  
_Why do I feel connected to this?_   
_Why is it so welcoming…?_

Opening his soft blue eyes, Takeru Takaishi laid on the coarse cement of the roof at Odaiba Junior High.  As he gazed into the azure sky, the blond child shielded his eyes from the warm amber sunlight. With the rays beating upon his skin, The Bearer of Hope rolled to his side. His vision spun as he found himself looking out of the wired fence around the roof's edge. Sighing, he absorbed the pleasant, calm atmosphere. As he closed his eyes once more, a flash of blurred memories rushed through his mind, causing his to sit up rapidly in response. Panting, he clenched his chest as he felt his heart beating hard and unstable. Glancing down at the ground, Takeru's eyes grew tired and wearily.

Rising to his feet, he cleaned his off any pebbles clinging onto his clothes. Placing his hand upon his forehead, his head felt like it was spinning. Shaking his mind clear, the golden haired boy took in a deep breath to calm his soul. _What was that just now? That feeling… It's so strange. I've been sensing this for a while. What is it…?_

Burying his hands into his pockets, Takeru shook his head once again, denying what he felt. As he walked towards the exit to return back before the lunch period ended, the door burst open with his slightest touch. With a surprise look glossed over his complexion, he held his breath as he noticed visible electric charges surging on the knob. Staring at his hand aimlessly, this incident certainly astonished him.

"Takeru…?!" a male voice called out. The Bearer of Hope's eyes followed the direction he heard his name being called. Walking down the steps, there was Daisuke waiting for him at the end. "Hey, man… Hikari-chan said you'll be here. Who knew you hang out on the roof during our lunch break."

"Heh, apparently Hikari-chan does," the blond child joked.

"Well, better head back before we're late."

As Daisuke began to pace steadily back to room 3-A, the Bearer of Hope trailed slowly behind as his eyes glared at the titled floor. Noticing this, the goggle boy stopped in his tracks and returned around. It wasn't until Takeru bumped into him that the spiky haired teenager was aware about his awkward behavior. Gazing at the other boy blankly, the blond quickly apologized.

"Are you alright…? If you don't mind me asking," Daisuke managed to add abruptly.

"Yeah… I'm fine, Daisuke-kun. What are you all worrying about? And about me especially… Heh, you're some strange guy, you know that. You're the one who stopped in the middle of nowhere and asking me if I'm okay."

"What…?! Now I'm the bad guy here? Geez! Sorry for caring in the first place." The goggle boy blurted unexpectedly. 

"An odd way to care," Takeru commented.

"Stop asking like a smart-ass."

"Fine, fine… And our death march back to class continues."

Furiously, Daisuke pounded his feet on the floor, causing the other students to stare at him for his peculiar action. Rubbing his head, Takeru tried to stop the spiky haired boy to act like this public, but once Daisuke becomes all hotheaded, it's quite difficult.

Quietly, he followed the other boy back to class and took his seat. As he pulled out his notebook, Hikari tapped his back lightly. Turning his attention to the brunette girl, she whispered, "What did Daisuke-kun do this time?" Apparently, she noticed the other boy's attitude change immediately.

Closing his eyes, Takeru murmured, "Actually, the question is what I did to him."

"What do you mean?"

"Nevermind. You don't need to know."

Flipping to a random blank page in his notebook, Takeru prepared for the rest of the school day. Still, he was bothered about what had happened on the roof. Was he imagining things? When did he have that kind of ability? Is this all a dream or was it really real? If only he knew what will happen next…

****

The last school bell rang once the clock struck 3:45 PM. The students of Odaiba Junior High flooded out of the school, each heading to all sorts of directions. Scattering like insects, the school gradually became vacant. Standing at the school's gates, Takeru waited for Iori to join him. As he did, Goggle Boy Daisuke passed by him, giving him the cold shoulder. Disturbed by their current situation, the blond child called, "Matte, Daisuke-kun…!"

"Why should I?" he shot back as he continued walking. Frustrated, The Bearer of Hope grabbed the other boy's wrist quickly. Breaking the golden haired boy's grip on him, Daisuke glared daggers at Takeru as he rubbed his sore wrist. "You didn't have to grab my wrist so hard, you know. Damn…," he swore.

Looking away, Takeru glanced at the concrete ground. "Sorry…," the blond child muttered as he stared at his hand unconsciously.

"So what is it?"

"Hmm…?"

"Don't tell me you made my wrist ache for no damn reason."

Staring at the ground, Takeru bit his lower lip. His throat tightened as he struggled to say the words. "The thing is I want to apologize…"

There, he finally said it. Takeru could never find himself to be so sincere to the other boy for some apparent reason and likewise. It was such a strange friendship. When they fought alongside with each other, it seems like they lose consciousness about the other person. Was that normal or was it just him noticing it?

"For what…? What could you possibly be apologizing about?" Daisuke wondered innocently.

"Are you acting dumb on purpose so you can mock me?" Takeru asked as he raised a brow.

Unable to continue playing his little game, the goggle boy chuckled heartily. "Yep, pretty much."

Clearing his throat, the golden haired boy continued. "Anyway, sorry for acting like an ass and verbally attacking you like that."

Nodding his head, Daisuke felt victorious, causing his ego to increase a few notches more. "Apology accepted. Now you must grovel before my feet and worship me."

"Let's not go that far. Apologizing to you is hard enough," The Bearer of Hope noted. 

"Really? I don't find it that hard. 'I'm sorry, Daisuke' See, it's easy," he teased.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Takeru remarked, "Now, who's acting like a smart-ass now?"

Grinning, Daisuke was guilty as charged. That cheerful smile slowly became flat as his copper red eyes became stern and hard. Gazing at the sapphire jewels before him, the spiky haired boy's lips twitched. The other boy's numb stare was difficult to communicate with. "Seriously, why do you have such a hard time?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. Why am I so hard to apologize to?"

"I don't know. Maybe because it's you that I have a difficult time," Takeru admitted.

Did his ears heard right? Did The Bearer of Hope say he just can't be courteous to him and him alone? Was he misinterpreting the other boy's words? It bothered him why Takeru would say such a thing. Since when did he pay attention to every word he said? Takeru being important to him…? That can't be possible, can it? Maybe he's an idiot to think that way. Maybe he's the only one who believes so.

"What does that suppose to mean?" Daisuke asked hastily.

"Nothing…," he muttered as he adjusted his schoolbag. "It doesn't matter."

"Ta--"

"Sorry I'm late!" A young boy's voice interrupted him unexpectedly. Dashing out of the front of the school was Iori. As he joined the blue-eyed blond, he bowed respectively to him as well as Daisuke. "I needed to run some errands. It took more time than I thought."

"That's alright," Takeru reassured. "I was in no hurry. Well, we better get going."

"Ja matta ne, Daisuke-san," Iori said as he walked ahead. As he drifted slowly away from them, The Bearer of Hope faced the other boy.

"Daisuke-kun…," Takeru uttered.

"Yeah…?"

"Forget what I said, alright. It's not important." With that said the blond left him by his lonesome and headed home with Iori.

****

Daisuke paced back and forth in his room with his fists gripped tightly. His mind was entangled by the thought of Takeru's request. Frustrated, he gripped his head and threw himself onto his bed. Staring at the blank ceiling, he wanted to know the answer to his question. Of course an empty ceiling won't get the response he needed. Slamming his fists onto the mattress, it really bothered him.

"What were you talking about, Takeru? What was it did you say that you wanted me to forget? I really don't know… Man, now I feel all shitty because of this! Argh!" He pounded his fists once again. Restlessly, he grabbed his soccer ball from the corner of his bed and played with it to keep his mind off of things.

_"I don't know. Maybe because it's you that I have a difficult time."_

After a while, that method lost its purpose once the question arose in his mind once again. "What do you mean, Takeru? 'Because it's me…?' Perhaps I'll never know."

****

In the chilly deep cerulean night, Takeru stood idly at the balcony. Staring at a clear view of Tokyo Bay, his head quaked. Grasping his head in pain, the blond crouched down to his knees as he gasped for air. Shaking his head, he removed his hand. His palm was covered with sweat from his forehead. Standing properly, The Bearer of Hope stared out once again. This time, his body did not react.

Shivering, the blond teenager walked back into the apartment as he rubbed his arms. As he closed the glass sliding door behind him, Takeru leaned back and let his body curled. Crossing his arms over his knees, the golden haired boy covered his face and isolated his senses. "What's happening to me…?" he uttered to himself.

Suddenly, the glass door shattered and blew inward. The wind caused the shards of glass to pierce through his skin and cut his face as they flew into the apartment's living room. Shielding his head, the blond teenager tried to protect himself. His thick warm blood flowed down his face and soaked his clothes. It wasn't that dark crimson he normally saw but black. Pure darkness had been coursing through his veins. Since when was he blood was such an ebony raven color tone?

Confused about the situation, Takeru quickly rushed to grab the telephone to call someone, anyone if possible. Hysterically at the moment, it took him much longer than usual to get a hold of the phone. Once he picked it up, the lights in the room were zapped out, leaving him shrouded in darkness. Putting his head against the earpiece, he hoped to hear a tone at least. Nothing. The telephone line was also shorted out.

Staring at his hand in the dark, Takeru breathed heavily. The wind stormed more strongly as the curtains fluttered. Rising to his feet, The Bearer of Hope paced back to the balcony unconsciously. As he stood in the cold night, he felt someone touching his shoulder. Spinning around quickly with his fist gripped tightly, the blond teenager was prepared to give that stranger some damage.

But the person before him was not a stranger at all. It was his brother, Yamato Ishida. Holding back his curled fingers, he was relieved. With shocked eyes, Yamato was certainly concerned about his little brother.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice was calm.

Touching his face, Takeru noticed he wasn't bleeding, let alone injured for that matter. What caught his eye was the sliding door. It was in perfect condition. Sighing, he released a small smile to reassure his older brother. "Yeah, I am… I guess I had some intense daydream."

"Yeah… Are you sure you're alright?"

"Quit worrying, Ni-san," Takeru replied cheerfully. "I'm perfectly fine."

Wanting to believe his brother's words, Yamato nodded to himself in response. "Okay, just making sure… You kinda freaked me out for a sec."

"Really?" The younger blond questioned as he gave him an odd look. "I thought the dream was a lot scarier. Anyway, what are you doing here, Ni-san?"

"I just needed to stop by to pick up something," he answered as he headed to the hallway closet. As Yamato dragged a box out to the living room, he realized his brother's gaze was so distant. Noticing the younger blond was staring at outside once again, Yamato couldn't help but expect something was bothering Takeru. He just couldn't place his finger on it. It was obvious that wanted to cover it up. But why…? Why couldn't he just tell him?

"Takeru, you seem disturbed by something. Wanna talk about?"

"Not really…"

"Alright. Tell me when you do want to talk," Yamato muttered as he continued to search through the box. Pulling out a folder of music sheets, the Bearer of Friendship placed it onto the coffee table. As he carried the box back to the closet, he heard his brother said, "Ne, Ni-san…?"

"Yeah…" he replied as he closed the closet door.

"I don't think I could ever dream again…"

"What do you mean…?" His voice became much clearer as he passed the hallway. Joining his brother at the balcony, Yamato leaned against the railing at he gazed at the cityscape.

"I think I'm afraid to."

"Takeru…?"

"Ni-san, I'm afraid to dream because it's always dark."

His brother's complexion suddenly grew cold and hard. It was like Takeru was tormented and suffering somehow. This certainly bothered him. He wanted to look deeper into this to understand his situation more, but after seeing him like this, Yamato feared that it would just worsen it more. He thought it would be best to cheer up instead.

"Well, it's only a dream, right? Maybe it'll be like this for a couple of days, you know. Don't worry about it. Dreams change eventually."

"Yeah, I guess right about that…," Takeru murmured. "Dreams are suppose to change."

Unexpectedly, Yamato felt his cell phone vibrate. As he pulled it out, The Bearer of Friendship flipped it open. It was text message from one of his band members. "Looks like I have to get going. Wish I could stay longer."

"That's alright."

"Will you alright like this?"

"Yeah, just go on ahead."

"Takeru…," Yamato nagged.

"I'll be fine," he replied with a soft smile. "Better not let everyone wait on you."

"Alright. Later then."

"Yeah, later.

As his brother exited the apartment, Takeru returned back to looking at the night silently by his lonesome. Eyeing Tokyo Bay once more, the sight of dark waters was awfully familiar. It was such a strange sensation but why his body reacts to it was the question. Lost to the idea, the blond teenager stood there as the night grew much darker and the glittering stars appeared.

"Was that for real? Was I really dreaming…? I don't understand anymore. Just what's going on…?"

END OF CHAPTER 01

**Author's Notes:**

Whoo-hoo! Another series to write while I'm brainstorming _Heaven's Wish and _Demon Voice_…Why do I make things harder for myself? **shrugs** Anyhoo, I hope you guys like this first premiere chapter. Took me a day to plan out what I had already dreamt about for last couple of weeks. Do you know how hard it is to sort out fanfic dreams? O.o This is pretty much a Takeru-centric fanfic. I have yet decided if there will be a coupling in this. It's mostly like might end up as a Daikeru series… Maybe a Daikenkeru… I really didn't take relationships into consideration yet. ^^;; I only dream plots. XD _

I would like to note the fact that the Digimon only exist in the Digital World. None coexist in the real world. I would go all out explaining this, but I'll just make this simple. In this scenario, Digimon are not allowed to live in the real world because of regulations and they are a probable danger to humans. Think of this like the Red Scare during the Cold War. It's practically the same.

I think that's all I need to say. Any other questions just e-mail me. Anyhoo, review time. Clicky-click! :D


	2. Wave 02: Reason

**[Ocean Links]**  
_Wave 02 – Reason_  
_revised August 23, 2003_

_My head is throbbing…_  
_Like something wants to break out._   
_I don't know why…_  
_But I feel afraid._   
_What's to become of me?_   
_This darkness of my future…_  
_What does it foretells? _  
_What's going to happen to all of us?_   
_I want to find out..._

Takeru stirred in his sleep and lay on his back wearily. Placing the back of his hand upon his forehead, he could feel the cold beads of sweat spreading over his skin. As he turned to his side, he carefully turned on his lamp and stared at the pale white ceiling. He sighed while he shut his eyes. His sapphire eyes gradually drooped, trying to return back to sleep. As he did, his vision was flared with an image of a dark demonic beast. Its hollows covered with ebony maggots and teeth stained with black blood. Takeru quickly shot up in response of eyeing ferocious primordial animal mentally.

Clinching onto his shirt, he felt his heart beating nervously. With trembling eyes, the blond teenager arched over as he viewed his hand carefully. It was shaking along with every nerve in his system. Paranoid, he raised the ball of his thumb before his lips and bit onto it deeply. Ripping an open wound, Takeru stared at it in the stark light. He took a deep breath and his system felt incredibly relieved to see crimson plasma seeping out of his flesh. Licking off his blood, he fell back onto his bed and turned off the light in his room.

Still, knowing that his blood remained that perfect red didn't seemed to ease his soul. Those strange visions… They kept changing, but they were always dark. What did it mean? _Maybe I shouldn't be bothered… Maybe Ni-san's right… I should just forget about it… Still, is this really normal?_

As he closed his eyes, the golden haired Chosen found himself lost to darkness. He felt vulnerable by its fiendish presence. He cannot escape it no matter how much he wishes to run. It will always be there, whether he liked it or not. If only he could be wrapped in Heaven's light… If only his weak side would perish so he wouldn't be troubled… If only…

Such childish wishes he had while lying in bed. Takeru hated to be this weak after all he had been through. This should be a walk in the park for him, but for some sort of reason, it pierced his soul and threw him into a panic. Frustrated, he threw his hands above his head and stared back at the ceiling. _I think I would rather not sleep… Perhaps ever…_

Sitting up, the blond teenager slowly got out of bed and left his room. As he walked into the kitchen, the golden haired Chosen stepped on a sharp object that punctured through the skin upon his foot. Takeru tumbled to the sofa and raised his foot carefully. Gently, he removed the hard piece and raised it before his eyes. His eyes widened and he recognized the sharp object.

"Glass…?" Takeru uttered under his breath. His eyes wandered across the glossed wooden floor, seeing shattered fragments of the transparent solid scattered from the balcony. He couldn't believe what he was witnessing. Was that vision true? Was this for real?

The Bearer of Hope was lost and confused by this revelation. With a blank expression upon his frozen face, he stared out of the broken door as the wind swept into the room throughout the night.

****

An icy breeze blew across his face as he stared at the vast horizon of the ocean. The sun cast an amber light over the water, illuminating it into a sea of riches. The seagulls soared over the calm beach and passed by the Bearer of Hope. His eyes were a dull cerulean gray, ever so blank and dead. The flesh tone of his skin appeared to have been drained out of him and all was left was a shell.

Rubbing his arms, he heated his freezing body as his eyes stared into space. Frankly, he didn't sleep a wink last night with all the uncertainty swarming his mind. That sudden flash of vision, especially the beastly image, made him shiver even more. The feeling disturbed him terribly, causing him not wanting to close his eyes. For every millisecond of darkness he blinks, he received an overwhelming rush of monochrome imagery. He never felt so frightened until now.

Raising his thumb before his eyes, Takeru recognized the deep, bloody cut he gave himself. It had already coagulated, but its color was dark shady black. Did he really saw the warm crimson or did he imagine it all? He shook the idea away, doubting that fact. _I must be going crazy or something_, he thought as he buried his hands into his pockets.

Takeru pulled himself away from the bay and continued walking to school. As he did, an alarming voice called him, "Takeru!" Spinning around in response, he saw the spiky haired goggle boy dashing his way in quite a rush. Daisuke slouched over as he caught his breath. "How come you're up so early? It's only seven!"

"I could ask you the same thing…," the golden haired Chosen countered.

"Oh, me?" the spiky haired boy pointed himself innocently. "I'm early because I have a soccer club meeting to attend to before school. What about you?"

"I'm just up…," he simply said and left it at that.

Daisuke stared at the other boy's complexion quite concern about his attitude. Noticing his sickly paleness, he asked, "Are you alright? You don't look too good…"

Takeru avoided the question and continued to head towards the school. The Bearer of Courage and Friendship knew little about this sudden change in the other boy. It was quite questionable. He was usually outgoing and enthusiastic. But now, it's like he was shunning away the entire world. What could he be hiding from him? Shaking his head, his mind was thrown into confusion. When was he so concern about Takeru?

While Daisuke laughed it off, he trailed behind the blond teenager. As he did, an unexpected wave of energy flew passed them and swept across the area. Quickly, the goggle head observed as it disappeared from behind them. Takeru was as startled as Daisuke, his eyes in absolute shock.

"What the hell was that?" The spiky haired teenager wondered as he looked back at the blond Chosen. Takeru was lost for words as he noticed everything around him paused in their tracks. Daisuke didn't realize this at first until he was aware of the dead silence and lifeless movement of the people nearby.

"Everyone's not moving…," he noted to himself.

"How come we weren't phase? Is it because we're Chosen Children?" Daisuke inquired as he looked around.

"Maybe… If that's true, Ni-san and the others should be alright."

"Can you contact him?"

"Yeah… I can."

As Takeru pulled out his cellphone from his schoolbag, a radiant light flashed from the screen and burned the phone entirely. Daisuke jumped in response as the Bearer of Hope quickly threw the cellphone to the ground before the raging heat melted through him. Panting by the minor pain he received, Takeru shook his head in response.

"Looks like using cellphones won't help. How about the D-Terminals?" Daisuke suggested.

"That might work, but you do it this time. Maybe you would get toasted too," he grinned wearily.

"Hopefully not…," the goggle head wished.

"Though using the D-Terminals is risky," Takeru stated. "We hadn't used them for a while, plus with the digital network communication laws banning foreign technology, the government may had blocked the D-Terminals' signals."

"Yeah, I know… But it's worth a shot, right?"

The Bearer of Hope nodded in return, agreeing to the fact that this was a worse-case scenario. As Daisuke grabbed his D-Terminal from his pocket, he flipped it open carefully as a precaution. Sighing with relief, he inputted a message into his D-Terminal as Takeru said it aloud. 

"Got it?" The golden haired Chosen asked.

"Yeah," Daisuke replied. "Should we send it to everyone?"

"We might just have to."

With a press of a button, the message was sent to every Chosen Child within their group. While Daisuke placed the D-Terminal back into his pocket, the other boy sat on the hard concrete sidewalk and leaned against the brick wall of Odaiba Elementary. The spiky haired teenager joined him and he took in a deep breath.

"What now?"

"We just have to wait for a response… If any…"

"So how are supposed to know if they got it if they don't respond?"

Takeru shrugged it off. He did consider that, but then again, they had no idea what was happening in the first place. Ever since yesterday, there was like a bad omen upon his thread of fate. _The disturbing visions, the flash of electric energy, the shattered glass door... They're all connected somehow... But to what?_

"Takeru...?"

"Hmm?" the blond Chosen responded abruptly, returning back to reality.

"Are you sure you're alright? You're acting weird."

"Weird?" Takeru replied with a cheerful smile. "I'm fine."

"Is something bothering you?"

"No, why do you say that?"

"You seem... Distant...," Daisuke slowly said as he looked away in embarrassment. "You just seem that way..."

"Daisuke-kun?"

The spiky haired boy rose to his feet as he dusted off the pebbles of stone clinging onto his slacks. As he stretched his arms over his head, Daisuke released a sigh. Looking back at the Bearer of Hope, he grinned. "You know what, forget it. Maybe it's just me."

Suddenly, a muffled beep rang from Daisuke's pocket in a rhythmic pattern. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his D-Terminal once again and flipped the top open. As he checked the received message, Takeru stood up and looked over his shoulder.

"It's from Taichi-san...," Takeru noted.

"Let's see...," Daisuke mumbled as he glanced through the message. As he did, he read it aloud unconsciously. _"Daisuke, Takeru-kun... Stay where you are. I contacted everyone and told them to meet up with you. We probably have to violate every digital network communication law, but be cautious how you do it. Hopefully this won't last long..."_

"That's it, huh..."

"Looks like it."

"To violate every digital network communication law...," Takeru pondered as he placed a curled index finger under his chin. "I wonder if we need to go that far."

"Are you kidding?" the spiky haired boy complied. "We can't use cellphones and who knows about normal telephones. We have no choice."

"It's like all the communication systems are down. Perhaps on purpose..."

"What do you mean?" Daisuke asked as he raised a brow.

"If Odaiba, for example, was the only place like this, there's no way for anybody on the outside to reach anyone here, right?"

"Yeah, so... Where are you getting at?"

"If this is isolated, why only here?"

Daisuke thought about the other boy's presumption carefully as possible. If what he was saying was true, the only reason that came to his mind was the past incidents with the Digimon. Starting with the incident in Hikarigaoka, everything has been taking place practically in Japan. That only occurred because of... "The Digital Gates."

"Exactly... We tapped into the gates here in Japan more than the other countries. Because of that, I believe it deteriorated our telecommunications. Not only that, any other communication network we had."

"The Digital World…?"

Takeru nodded to return to confirm the other boy's thoughts. "…Which resulted to this."

"A limbo between the two worlds?"

The Bearer of Hope had a concern expression upon his face when the goggle head mentioned that idea. It wasn't the word he was going to describe this phenomenon but it was close, none the less. "I guess that's the best way to explain all of this."

"Seems reasonable... But why are we able to move?"

"I don't think the people are the ones who stopped. I think it's us."

"What?"

"We're in the void between the two worlds... Neither reality or digital."

"But how?"

"A distortion... Created from all the times we traveled back and forth from the Digital World and the real world," Takeru assumed. The Bearer of Courage and Friendship scrunched his face and stared suspiciously at the blond teenager. Noticing this, Takeru backed away as he faced the other boy. "What is it?"

"How come you seemed to know about this so well?" Daisuke wondered.

"I really don't know," he stated. "It's just a feeling... It sounds true, doesn't it?"

"Yeah... It does."

Before the spiky goggle head had a chance to question the other boy's reasoning, he heard a male voice calling his name from behind. Quickly he turned around and noticed an auburn young adult in a formal high school uniform. Daisuke waved back as he yelled back, "Taichi-san, over here!"

As everyone from the Chosen Children team joined together, excluding Mimi, they stood in a circle, facing each other. Taichi cleared his throat as he began to discuss the matters of the situation. While their fearless leader was going over the facts, Daisuke placed all his attention on Takeru. The golden haired Chosen's theory surely puzzled him. How was he able to develop such an idea without any hardcore evidence? He just made it up out of thin air without knowing what was occurring. There was something about him that didn't seem right, but why?

"Daisuke, are you listening?" Taichi groaned.

"Uh, yeah... I'm listening."

The Bearer of Courage gave him a look before continuing. "Anyway, we need to get out of this somehow. Any ideas?"

Koushirou raised his hand calmly as he set up his laptop to display his method. Hitting the enter key, a graphic was displayed upon the screen. Showing it to the others, the Chosen Children stared at the glaring LCD screen. "This is the world's network. As you can tell, it creates a wired frame around the earth."

"A shell…?" Iori inquired.

"Precisely. Think of it as a global firewall. Before Daisuke-kun contacted us, I was looking deep into this and traced the reason for all of this."

"Which is?" Yamato asked before everyone else.

"Someone was trying to transport us. Because of the coding done by the government to enforce network communication restrictions, it caused a distortion in our data transfer. Not only that, our past activity in the Digital World may have affected this as well."

"What do you mean?" Sora wondered.

"During the time we kept traveling through the Digiport, a rip between our dimensions was created here in Japan. That's why the Demon Corps were able to pass through our world so easily. With the additional network defense, it shuts down part of connection the two worlds share."

"Like a cage…," Ken muttered.

"So are you saying this is the break between our dimensional planes?" Miyako assumed hesitantly.

"That's what I claim," Kouchirou noted.

Daisuke eyed the Bearer of Hope, realizing Koushirou's gathered information was similar to Takeru's inkling. A sudden rush of fear flowed through him as he quickly looked away from the other boy. Holding his breath, his nervous eyes trembled, unable to comprehend the ordeal. Was he frightened by the golden haired Chosen's presence or reasoning? 

"Are you saying that we're in some kind of dimensional limbo?" The spiky haired boy questioned unexpectedly, surprising the rest of the team.

"Technically speaking, yes."

"So how are you planning to get us out of this mess, Koushirou?" Taichi reminded him.

"Hack the global network firewall system."

Everyone's eyes grew wide in shock, everyone except Takeru. With a smug look upon his face, the blond teenager crossed his arms calmly as he glanced at the red haired computer wiz. Noticing the other boy's strange actions, Daisuke couldn't help but observe him carefully.

"How are you going to do that without triggering the alarm cores?" Takeru finally joined in the conversation. The Bearer of Knowledge leered at him shakily, bewildered by his question.

"Alarm cores…?"

"Takeru, you know about this?" The older Ishida asked as he eyed his little brother. The younger blond rubbed that back of his head and shrugged.

"Not really… It just common sense, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Well, I better get started." Koushirou sat himself against the stone brink wall of Odaiba Elementary as he started up his program. Cautiously he was cracking the coding to enter the firewall program while the others watched over his shoulders. Takeru stepped away from the group and gazed out to the ocean view.

Suddenly he lost all sense of the other Chosen Children's presence and found himself seeing a sea of dark waters. His nerves became numb, his muscle clinging tight. Unable to move, Takeru looked around slowly. There, on the shoreline, the Bearer of Hope spotted a lone hooded figure standing at the shore. The ocean water freely flowed to and fro as the being in black did not waver. Unexpectedly, the mysterious figure spoke to him.

"Do you remember? You're not real."

****

The Chosen Children was transported back to reality, but Yamato's surprise, he noticed that his brother wasn't amongst them. Giving a quick glance to his best friend, Taichi was well-aware about this. Rushing to Koushirou's side, the Bearer of Courage leaned over the boy's shoulder, hoping to track down the missing blond teenager. The redhead typed with haste, attempting his best. With the older Ishida worried, Daisuke couldn't help but ponder why everyone was able to return except him.

The goggle boy's copper red eyes wandered towards that last thing Takeru was staring at -- the ocean. As he did, he could've sworn he saw a transparent image of the golden haired Chosen. Stepping forward, Daisuke's first assumption was correct after all. Astonished, he could see ghostly Takeru before him. Reaching out, his hand passed right through the other boy. The others wondered about Daisuke's behavior until Ken noticed Takeru's reflection upon the spiky haired boy's goggles.

"It's Takeru…," Ken uttered while Daisuke was still awestruck.

"Takeru-kun? Where?"

"He's standing right in front of me…," the goggle boy replied softly.

"In front of you?" Yamato raised a brow, doubtful at first until he too was able to see his brother at a certain angle.

"Where is he?" Jyou asked the computer wiz as he watched him hit the keys.

"I can't seem to track him. Someone's trying to stop me."

"What?" Taichi replied in a startled tone as he pushed himself to see the redhead countering back.

With Koushirou's last efforts to break through the abrupt conflicts, his laptop flashed a message and automatically shut itself down before Jyou could have read it. The Bearer of Knowledge blinked and closed the top in defeat.

"What was that just now?"

"An error message," Koushirou simply noted. "Lemme reboot my laptop and give it another try."

"Do it," Yamato ordered.

Once the red haired Chosen had his laptop running, Koushirou entered the program once again and approached the situation more cautiously. Using an alternate method, evidence that it was proceeding well was apparent to the other Chosen Children. A static, shady blur of Takeru faded in and out as the Bearer of Knowledge continued breaking through the coding of the complex programming. The odd thing was that another image flickered over the young blond teenager's physical characteristics before he became whole.

Takeru suddenly found himself before losing consciousness. Daisuke reacted immediately as the other boy fell into his arms and caused him to lose his balance. Falling to the ground as well, Yamato rushed to both of them to examine his brother's condition. He was fairly injured from the head down within the last hour. Cuts, bruises, and blood were shattered upon his body. Whatever happened to him on the other side was purposely done.

As the Bearer of Friendship touched the cut upon his brother's cheek, a drop of black flowed down his fingers among the red.

**END OF CHAPTER 02**

**Author's Notes:**

Well, wasn't that a bit confusing with the digital network communication laws and crap. XD If you didn't get it, don't worry. It won't play a big part of this story. Only for this chapter. ^^; Just wait until the Chosen Children go back into the Digital World and find the Crest Lab Chambers and see this dark, horrific… Hold a sec. I shouldn't say any more. That won't happen until a few more chapters later. Hehehe… I'm so evil. Now go on and review. Don't forget to ponder about the next chapter. XD


End file.
